Syllabus Overview

Our Beginners Jazz Syllabus is a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to learn the foundations of jazz harmony.

Who Is This Syllabus For?

Students who are new to jazz piano

Students who want to play from lead sheets and chord charts

Students who 'play by ear' and want to understand the theory

Students coming from a classical musical background

Starting with the absolute basics, we work 'from the ground up' teaching you keys, chords, scales, progressions, and most importantly; how it all fits together in context of our favourite tunes.

Learning Path

Our Beginners Jazz Syllabus can be broken down into 4 key areas of jazz theory. We cover the underlying theory, outline practice drills and exercises, and apply everything in context of our favourite tunes.

1.

Major & Minor Scales

Scales are the foundation of harmony and the first step to understanding jazz. This course covers all the 12 major scales and how they are related to the circle of fifths. We cover the 3 types of minor scales: natural, harmonic & melodic.

2.

Intervals, Triads & 7th Chords

The studies on intervals, triads, & 7th chords will teach you the basic building blocks to construct jazz chords and voicings. We explore chord inversions and arpeggios to prepare you for more advanced studies of jazz harmony.

3.

The 251 Progression

The 251 progression is the most common progression in jazz music. Virtually every jazz tune will contain a 251 progression in some form. By mastering this progression you will become a more confident and competent jazz piano player.

4.

Playing From Lead Sheets

With our basic knowledge of chords, scales, and progressions we can begin to apply this in context of tunes and jazz standards. To start we use simple chord voicings containing the root, the 3rd, the 7th, and the melody on top.

Courses

The Beginner Jazz Syllabus contains 2 courses which should be studied in the following order:

Your Teachers

Hayden Hill

Hayden is a jazz pianist and educator from Manchester, UK. He founded PianoGroove in 2015 with the goal of making the world a more musical place. Hayden shares his love for jazz piano through his online courses and manages the community area of PianoGroove.

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